[PLUG] how small will Gentoo go?

[Paul Mullen]

On Tue, Nov 07, 2006 at 07:47:51AM -0800, Auke Kok wrote:
> If you really want minimal, the only real option still feasible for
> ordinary distro's is nfsroot or similar, and just move all
> requirements off to a different storage system.

If you really want minimal and not have to rely on a remote file
system, a common approach is to build a custom kernel image (with no
frills--nothing but what you need), and a basic complement of
libraries and utilities based on a pared-down glibc and BusyBox. Such
a system can easily fit in less than 4 MB of storage. It won't do all
that much, but it will qualify as a mostly full-fledged Linux system.
If you want to add other fancy stuff like servers and such, you'll
likely need more space.

http://www.busybox.net/

Check out the handhelds.org site for a good example of what can be
squeezed into a small amount of flash RAM (32 MB, in their case). They
host the Familiar Linux distribution, which is meant for PDAs such as
the iPaq.

http://www.handhelds.org/

For a turnkey cross-toolchain, I like the Embedded Linux Development
Kit (ELDK). It includes kernel source for various PowerPC and ARM
targets, and also ships with ramdisk images for both (meaning you
don't even have to bother building your own filesystem, just the
kernel image).

http://www.denx.de/wiki/DULK/ELDK

-- 
Paul